Winterfell Burning

I just finished the series up last night and let me start by saying I've not read the books. But I don't understand something. Winterfell was surrounded by a group of soldiers sent by Robb to rescue his brothers. The few men holding Winterfell from the Iron islands left. Next thing we know Winterfell is burned to the ground and there are none of Rob's troops about. So does this mean that Rob has a traitor in his midst and the troops that were sent to "liberate" Winterfell were actuall told to go destroy it? I feel like I really missed something here.

Yeeaaah... this was pretty sloppily handled in the show and a major deviation from the books.

Since you're asking spoilerish questions:

Spoiler

Ramsay Bolton (Roose Bolton's bastard) is the one behind the razing of Winterfell. In the books, the story was a little more complex and involved the character "Reek" (who was actually Ramsay in disguise) who earned Theon's trust and whose role was effectively replaced by Dagmer in the show.

Unlike in the show, Ser Rodrik wasn't beheaded by Theon. He actually had Winterfell surrounded with his men, and Theon was close to accepting defeat and taking the Black. Then Ramsay/Reed rode in, took Ser Rodrik unawares and slaughtered the Stark men. Theon welcomed his saviour into Winterfell, only to learn the truth about Ramsay/Reek, who took him prisoner and razed Winterfell.

Yeeaaah... this was pretty sloppily handled in the show and a major deviation from the books.

Since you're asking spoilerish questions:

Spoiler

Ramsay Bolton (Roose Bolton's bastard) is the one behind the razing of Winterfell. In the books, the story was a little more complex and involved the character "Reek" (who was actually Ramsay in disguise) who earned Theon's trust and whose role was effectively replaced by Dagmer in the show.

Unlike in the show, Ser Rodrik wasn't beheaded by Theon. He actually had Winterfell surrounded with his men, and Theon was close to accepting defeat and taking the Black. Then Ramsay/Reed rode in, took Ser Rodrik unawares and slaughtered the Stark men. Theon welcomed his saviour into Winterfell, only to learn the truth about Ramsay/Reek, who took him prisoner and razed Winterfell.

Thanks for answering - I'm quite surprised - this seems like a pretty major deviation then. Based on what you said the movie did handle it incredibly poorly because from the perspective of someone not reading the books - I couldn't figure out what happened to the troops sent to liberate Winterfell.

It was a major deviation, but I personally feel that the deviation was purposely done to give Theon more to do next season. As we all know, Theon doesn't appear in A Storm of Swords, and I think by having the Bastard of Bolton maybe track the Ironborn, and defeat them, capture Theon, and possibly reveal that he burned Winterfell whilst searching for him could be a smart way of including Theon a little bit more. Perhaps then also show him being tortured by the Bastard every now and then in some scenes.